Valentine One

Valentine One unit, in start up mode.
You can also see the bar linking the two window suckers
together for quick release of the whole unit.

Note: This is now been replaced by the new slimmer 2001 model.

Known as the Class leader by most drivers, this is the yet another unit that offers outstanding performance when it comes to detection it's performance is brilliant it's price however is not, but then they do say it's Reassuringly Expensive. Costing a whooping £579.95 RRP

The Valentine one came with a windscreen mount, visor mount with one hand quick release, two power cables and hard wire box and cable. (This allows you to have a permanent power connection on your vehicle). All the cables connected via RJ-11 telephone connectors, a neat way of doing things and it became more apparent why when you see how all the accessory's link into the system.

It's a solid well-made unit with a quality feel not the most stylish of units but never the less it looks the business. The Valentine One has to twin radar detecting aerials and twinned laser detecting diodes. The twin aerials one aimed forward and one rearward this gives it its ability to triangulate where the signal is coming from including the Laser signal.

This I found to be very useful in practice it shows you where the signal is coming from so you know where to look.

Optional accessory's come in the form of a Remote Audio Adapter (£34.95), This gives you the ability to connect an earpiece and speaker, control the volume and computer settings, ideal for motorbikes.

A concealed Display option (£39.95 mimicked the main display and allowed you to keep a lower profile by moving all the display lights elsewhere a very cleaver feature of the concealed Display was it connected to the cigarette power adapter via a slide mount or you can place it else where in the car with another mounting option. It all added up to a very neat package without masses of wires as well.

Valentine One Remote Audio Unit.

The Unit is designed for left-hand drive vehicles, (the display and buttons slant to the left), this is not a major issue but it would have been nice to have it flat on the front for us British drivers.
One of the most obvious features on front of the Valentine One is the collection of three arrows, called direction indicators they are used to inform the driver where the danger is, front, back or sides. It's also the only unit that I've reviewed so far that can deal with multiple radar signals, the display on the front will display the No. 1-5 depending on the amount of radar signals in the area and LED's identify the frequency and signal strength.

This I found out was worth its weight in gold, we did a test using a Hand held gun and a Gatso nearby, all the other units just told me I had a signal, but not how many. The Valentine One told me there was two signals and where they were. As I passed the Gatso the arrows went from front to side and then to back but the front arrow stayed light telling me that there was another signal in front of me. The bogey counter also said that there were two signals on the K band. This situation would not happen often in real life but it's nice to know that this unit could cope, and in a real situation with a standard radar detector I would have thought it was just the Gatso giving the signal.

The Valentine also has two volume control dials, one for Master volume and one for mute volume. The initial volume is used to warn you of the threat and then the unit goes over to mute volume, this is allows you set the volume of the reminder.

In the alarm mode the direction of the signal, the band of the signal, i.e.. K band and the strength of the signal are all displayed on the front to the unit.

There are also three selectable computer modes used to identify radar signals and help reduce false alarm signals.

So what tests did we do?

The most important one is the Gatso Test. We have a section of road that we use for all Gatso tests, it has one of the lowest radar scatter fields making it more of a challenge to Radar Detectors it also allows us to do the national speed limit if we want to. All the Radar detectors are tested in the same vehicles and in the same position on the windscreen.

The Valentine One was subjected to three passes using a stopwatch to time the unit from the first beep to the point of passing the Gatso to establish an average warning time . Speed was 60mph. Please note warning times can vary subject to conditions.

The Laser gun was used in two ways, the first test was directly at the car with the detector in it, although the detector worked and was instant on alarm, if the officer used the first reading you were in trouble. However they often take a few readings so you may have a chance to slow. The second test was to have two cars in front and the operator target the first car and see if there was enough scatter for the third car to get an alarm, it was not a problem for the Valentine we had an alarm in all three runs.

In our opinion you could get a warning or you could get nicked when it come to the Laser alert mode.

False Alarm Test.

This is done over a six mile selection of roads taking in two Gatso's and a town centre with Banks, Supermarkets and DIY stores.

We had three alarms on the K band and four on the X band (X band we thought could not be turned off on the Valentine 1 however an e-mail from Rav a reader of the site told us it can and how to do it.) The amount of false alarms is important, if it spends all its life beeping at you, you will soon start to ignore it. However the Direction indicators allowed you to identify the location of the signal very quickly
I been using the unit now for a few weeks and with the X band now turned off I have taken to this unit in a big way. It no longer beeps all the time it just sits there and does its job well, Very Well.

UPDATE: After a 6 months use, comparing it to the Bel 990 the Valentine One false alarms the least and is by far worth the extra money, If you can stretch to the extra money it is worth it.

Can we recommend it, YES, we can.

It's still one of the best, even if they do say its
Reassuringly Expensive.